


The Burning City: A RCPD Story

by uknowwhat



Series: Republic City Stories [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Action & Romance, F/M, Gen, Police Procedural, Post-Canon, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-17
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-03-07 21:58:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3184652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uknowwhat/pseuds/uknowwhat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Republic City, the job of protecting the innocent from criminals who would do them harm falls upon Lin Beifong and her police department. In the days following the attack of the Earth Empire, news of a grisly murder reaches her desk. She assigns the role of solving the case to newly-promoted Inspector Mako. Will he be able to work with the rookie forensic expert Kyoko? What about Patuk, the incredibly creepy city coroner? Just what isn't Lin telling him? Just how long is the Avatar going to be on vacation anyway? </p><p>Will the RCPD be able to protect what's left of the city from their own burning past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Burning City: A RCPD Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All it takes to start a fire is a spark landing in the right place.

_Lin_

 

Following the attack by the short-lived Earth Empire, Republic City was thrown into chaos. Half the city was rubble, and the other half was condemned. To top it off, the Avatar and CEO of Future Industries had decided to take a vacation when the city badly needed both of them. Lin couldn't really blame them – they had been through hell, and at such a young age. But it was up to her and the force to keep what peace they could find, without the Avatar's help. Future Industries crept on without it's President's vision, but if Asami Sato was present repairs would be going much faster. Shelter was in short supply. As was office space. Police Headquarters was now below Central City Station. The space was supposed to be a mere precinct station, but the Colossus had stomped through HQ during it's attack.

The meetings wore on Lin the most. President Raiko wanted constant updates on everything, even when the only news was that there was no news. She started every morning with the newspaper and a cup of coffee heated by Mako, her most reliable officer.

“Bad news, Chief,” he said, handing Lin her coffee and the news. “Looks like the press is going after Raiko again, and you know what that means.”

“Great. Just what I need – more pointless meetings. Hold on, I have something here for you,” she said as he went to leave me with the paper. She picked up something from her desk drawer and tossed it lightly across her desk. “You earned it.”

It was a sprit vine wreath pin embossed in gold. Mako picked it up with surprise. “Inspector? Already? But there are plenty of officers with more experience than me.”

“Don't even try to turn it down. Your record speaks for itself. And consider this my apology for making you deal with Wu. I couldn't trust anyone else to do that job right.”

“Thank you, Chief. I mean it,” he said. He looked as if he was about to say something more.

“You're welcome. Now shut up and get out of my office, I haven't had my coffee yet,” said Lin with the barest hint of a smile on her face.

Mako saluted, turned, and left. Lin sat back and read the paper. _President Pushover_ was the headline today. She only wished she could have seen Raiko's reaction to it. Or his wife's.

Lin heard Mako talking on the phone outside. He was calling Bolin, probably to tell him about his promotion. Lin considered calling Su. It had been a week since they last talked.... yes, it was probably time. She wrote “Call Su” in her personal notebook. Her official one was reserved for police business, and Suyin hadn't been police business since she was sixteen.

Suyin's oldest son, however, was very much police business, as he was in police custody. Baatar Jr. had flatly refused to blame everything on Kuvira, despite his mother's protests. Lin had to give the boy credit – he wasn't going to try and shirk responsibility for his own actions. _Must be his father's influence,_ Lin thought. Su had been ready to break Baatar Jr. out of jail, and only the entire family working together convinced her that would end badly for everyone.

Lin flipped the paper over, reading the stories hidden below the fold. Shelter shortages.... the looting problem.... the city was a mess. Despite all the hardship, Lin was, for lack of a better word, happy. Her days were long and full of toil, just like she wanted. Normally being Chief of Police meant politics, but with the city in crisis politics suddenly disappeared as politicians wondered where their next meal would come from, and who would listen to them if they tried to give orders.

She put away the paper and picked up the overnight report. These were the incidents filed by the night shift – usually petty crime and domestic disturbances, with the occasional nasty surprise. Today, she realized, was nasty surprise day. She read the report with a grimace and finished her coffee.

 

_Mako_

Mako jumped as Lin Beifong took the phone from his hand. He had been too engaged with Bolin to even notice that she came out of her office.

“Sorry, Bolin. I need your brother for a while. He'll call back later,” said the Chief. Mako had learned to read Lin's moods well in his time on the force, and this was her classic 'forced civility during unpleasant business.'

_Let's see. She just got through with the paper and from the look on her face she rushed her coffee. She rushes it when it's a bad cup or there's something to do right away and I know the coffee was perfect this morning. The paper? I checked the headlines and the editorials after I got the paper, and I didn't see anything there. That means..._

“What was in the overnight, Chief?” Mako asked.

“Hmph. Good reasoning, kid,” said Lin, unimpressed with Mako's feat of deduction. “You're coming with me to the morgue. We've got an unknown woman in, we assume killed in an assault. We found her near the docks early this morning, after a report of a strange smell.” She led him swiftly through the crowded Station. Lin stuck her head in one particularly busy room filled with wires. “Jin – call ahead to the morgue, let them know we're coming. If the officer who found the body this morning is still on duty, have them meet us there.”

A man wearing headphones nodded at Lin and began to speak into the radio in front of him. Lin and Mako continued to the garage. The morgue was far enough away that they'd have to drive – luckily, the streets were mostly cleared. Instead of heading to the central garage, Lin took Mako to a closed vehicle bay near the exit. Mako saw a sign on the door shortly before Lin lifted it open. “Reserved for Use by the Chief of Police.” Mako couldn't help but gasp when he saw what was inside.

Future Industries continued to supply the police force with vehicles from motorcycles up to and including airships. As a rule, they were sturdy, reliable, and easy to use. While they never lacked in power, they often lacked the artistic quality of civilian vehicles. These, however – these were masterpieces. A motorcycle and armored sidecar caught his eye first – the motorcycle was certainly based on the models currently breaking records on the racing circuits, while the sidecar was more of a chariot, with housing for long lengths of wire, and looked like it could be detached from the motorcycle by the occupant. Mako assumed the sidecar was meant to be occupied by a metal-bender, who could stand and shoot the wires as needed. Next was a large mobile command center with antennas and transmitters on the roof for relaying orders in the field. General Iroh had used one just like it while setting up the defenses before Kuvira's invasion. Last but certainly not least was a pursuit cruiser with a massive engine, thick tires, and enough attitude to give Korra a run for her money. Metal covers protected the wheel wells. Asami had one almost exactly like it – Mako has assumed it was a one-of-a-kind prototype. Apparently he was wrong.

Lin noticed him staring. “Future Industries likes to maintain good relations with the Republic City Police Department,” she deadpanned. “They provide low-cost prototypes for in-field evaluation so that the Department may make informed decisions on future purchases.” Mako tore his gaze away from the cars to stare at her. “What? It's what the brochure said when these were delivered.”

“Isn't that kind of a bribe?” said Mako, raising one eyebrow.

“Not if we don't buy any more. The command vehicle's fine, but we only really need one anyway. The cruiser's ludicrously overpowered and has no space for prisoners. The motorcycle's fine, but the chariot-thing is, frankly, a deathtrap waiting to happen,” she said. Seeing the still-arched eyebrow Mako was giving her, she sighed. “Look, I don't even have control over the purse-strings. There's a committee for that. All I requested was a command vehicle.” She pulled out the keys to the cruiser. “Now shut up and buckle in. This thing is fast.”

 

_Lin_

The thing was _very_ fast. And with the streets still mostly empty of traffic, Lin pushed the pedal down. It handled like a dream. Lin would never say it out loud, but as far as not-quite-bribes went, the cruiser was very impressive. She'd considered having the vehicle slapped with the Chief of Police's symbol and making it officially hers, but decided against it. If she looked like she approved of the whole affair, it would make the requisition committee more inclined to accepting such 'generous deals,' and that would only lead to trouble down the line.

So Lin enjoyed her unofficial Chief's cruiser sparingly, and so made sure to get as much enjoyment out of it's use as possible. The morgue was, technically, relatively close to the current HQ, but the short war had destroyed most of the roads in between. The only route between now was a longer circuit that crossed Kyoshi Bridge. Lin passed what traffic there was with ease, without even having to resort to sirens. There were many more spirits around now that there was an honest-to-goodness Spirit Portal in the city, rather than just the Spirit Wilds. A large bird-like spirit flew along with the car for about half a mile before flying away. Luckily, spirits seemed to avoid roads.

The morgue was located below an older precinct house, one built while Toph was still Chief. A young police woman walked towards them, stopped, saluted awkwardly, and then continued. Lin did not recognize the girl. She had short-cropped black hair and wore the blue uniform of a non-metal bender. Mako, seated next to Lin, had on a similar outfit.

 _Must be one of the new hires, fresh out of the academy,_ Lin thought. A new batch of rookies had graduated just before the Earth Empire attack and had mostly been stuck with relief efforts and patrols. _I hope she wasn't the one who found the body. That_ _would be_ _a rough way to start the job._

“Chief Beifong. Detective – Oh! Excuse me, Inspector Mako. I'm Kyoko. I mean, Constable Kyoko. You wanted to see me? I, um, found the... victim,” said the alleged Constable Kyoko. She gave another shaky salute.

 _Damn! Tough luck, rookie._ “Good to finally meet you, Constable. Follow me and I'll fill you both in.” Lin pushed her way through the precinct doors and headed for the stairs towards the back of the building, greeting some of the officers as she passed through. “A month ago, that is, about three weeks before Kuvira's attack, another young woman was found dead near the largest refugee camp. Her name was Chyou Zhu. She worked on a Cabbage Corporation assembly line, and as far as we could tell had no enemies, just a few friends through work and a distant family. We thought it was a mugging-gone-wrong, although the violence of the attack was unusually severe. I hoped it was an isolated incident, until I read this morning's report. The injuries are nearly identical,” said Lin. She heard a gasp from the younger woman behind her. She stopped before the entrance to the morgue. “Mako, how's your stomach?”

“I feel fine, I guess, but what does that have to -” said Mako, confused.

“No, I mean this is some pretty vicious stuff we're about to look at. How are you with things like that?”

“Fine,” said Mako, setting his jaw. Lin guessed that no matter how his stomach wanted to react, he would stop himself from vomiting through force of will alone, if it came to that.

“Constable Kyoko, what about you?”

“Oh I'm fine now. It's much easier when they're in the morgue,” said the younger woman, causing Lin to pause for a moment.

 _T_ _hat_ _'s a very strange way of saying “I'll be ok_ _.”_ _The writing in the_ _overnight_ _report was_ _much_ _more technical than normal. Regular cops don't normally use the word 'contusion.' Since she wrote the report, and given that she can't salute worth a sky-bison's toenail clippings and is greener than one of Suyin's health drinks, that means...._

“Constable, before the attack, were you studying forensics at the Academy?” asked Lin.

“Yes, but how did you...?”

“No offense, but you don't carry yourself like a beat cop. Then the morgue comment – you'd have to be familiar with morgues and their contents to say something like that. It was either mortician or forensics, and you don't seem morbid enough for Coroner,” said Lin.

“Now you know why she's the Chief,” said Mako. This drew a snort of laughter cut short out of the young woman.

“Sorry about sticking you with beat duty. We're short-handed at the best of times, but now we need every cop out and visible as we can find,” said Lin.

“I understand, ma'am,” said Kyoko.

“Sir,” said Lin, automatically.

“I beg your pardon?” asked the other woman, confused.

“Superior officers are to be addressed as 'sir,' or by rank unless they tell you otherwise,” clarified Mako.

Lin nodded. “You can't call me ma'am yet. Ma'am has to be earned. Isn't that right, Inspector?”

“Yes, ma'am,” said Mako. He smiled at the young woman. “Don't worry. Everyone makes that mistake at least once. And I hate 'sir.' It's either “Inspector” or “Mako” with me, got it?”

“Yes, sir. I mean,” the young woman blushed in embarrassment, “Yes, Inspector.”

“Enough dawdling,” said Lin. “We're here to work.” She opened the door to the morgue.

 

_Mako_

The cold of the morgue made Mako shiver. At least, he told himself it was the cold. It may have been the morgue's only permanent resident.

“Good morning, Chief,” said a tall, pale man with a bald head and a neatly trimmed goatee. He was old, but it was difficult to tell exactly how old. His blue eyes glanced at Mako from behind thin glasses, and he gave two nearly imperceptable nods of acknowledgment. “Detective. Constable.”

“Not anymore,” said Lin. “He's 'Inspector' now. How are you, Patuk?”

The old man seemed to consider the question for a moment. “I'm still here,” he said at last. “You chose well for the Inspector spot, by the way.”

“I know.” Lin smiled. “You're talkative today, old man. We need to see last night's unknown female, and then the file from the Chyou Zhu case from last month.”

“This way,” said Patuk, head coroner of Republic City. From the Northern Water tribe, he seemed to bring the cold of his homeland with him wherever he went, despite being a non-bender. Department rumor had it that at a formal dinner he held onto his drink without finishing it for too long and it froze in his hand. He was pale from spending too much time underground in the morgue and away from the sun. He walked with a limp. Until today, Mako had never heard him speak more than five words at a time.

Patuk opened a body drawer. “Here's your unknown female. Cause of death extreme burn trauma caused by firebending,” he said. “It was not a difficult diagnosis. I'm afraid I'm still working on the identity.”

Despite his years on the force and the various gruesome, twisted, and just wrong things Mako had seen, his stomach turned at the sight. The woman was badly burned – but only on the right side of her body. On her right, parts of her were burned nearly to the bone. On her left – if it wasn't for her skin color, she could have been alive. He turned away. Lin caught his eye as she averted her own. Without speaking, they both looked at the corpse again, ready this time. Neither the young Constable nor the old Coroner had moved.

“This is why I like pictures instead of the real thing. What's your best guess for time of death?”

“Three days ago.”

“Six,” said a small voice. It was Kyoko, who had her eyes fixed on the corpse. Everyone turned to look at the constable. Sensing their stares, she looked up at the other three. “I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's at least six, probably more.” she said.

“Explain,” said Patuk. Mako would have called his tone 'Icy,' but that was the man's baseline tone. This was more 'Glaciery.'

“Look here,” she said, pointing to some very small black circles on the victim's left shoulder. “Those are southern vulture-fly exit wounds, made post-mortem. They land, bite, and lay their eggs on cold, dead bodies – anything with a pulse or too hot and it's no good. Six days later, the eggs hatch and crawl out, leaving marks like these. Based on the lack of decomposition, I think she died or was kept somewhere cold, and then moved to where I found her. That's why it otherwise looks like she's only been dead three days.”

Mako stared at Kyoko. She didn't seem the least bit intimidated by the coroner, let alone reluctant to challenge him. He looked at the coroner. He was bent over the shoulder with a magnifying glass, looking at the black marks. He rose with a grunt.

“Damn. My eyes are getting worse. I missed those entirely. She's right – about the time of death, at least. Well spotted, Constable.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Kyoko. She looked at Mako and smiled briefly. “We had etymology on Thursdays. Bugs are weird, but predictable.”

“That settles it,” said Lin. “Kyoko, you're promoted to acting detective, effective immediately. You'll be partnered with Mako, who I'm placing in charge of these cases and any more that might appear. Mako, teach her how to be a beat cop while you're working on this one.”

Mako blinked. He looked ahead and accidentally met Patuk's gaze. The older man gave a small shrug, as if to say 'No, I did not see that coming either.' He looked at Lin, who was staring at him. Her brow twitched ever so slightly, daring Mako to question her decision if he felt like being a fool today. Lastly he looked at Kyoko, who wasn't looking at anything at all. The girl looked like someone had zapped her with one of the gloves the Equalists used to have.

“Detective? Already?” she looked like someone had just told her she won the lottery and that she was the long-lost princess of Omashu at the same time. The fact that she could look like this while standing over a dead body in the city morgue creeped Mako out a little.

“Acting detective. Don't give anyone with more experience than you orders,” said Lin. “Patuk, give them the other case file. Mako, I'm leaving the car with you and taking the hard way home. Don't scratch it.”

Mako caught the thrown keys, watching his boss leave. What had gotten into her?


End file.
